''Entry of Christ into Jerusalem'' is an 1125

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

by the Master of San Baudelio de Berlanga, originally located at San Baudelio de Berlanga but now on display in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Indiana. It depicts Christ and seven

disciples A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in ...

entering Jerusalem to the acclaim of its inhabitants.

Description

This fresco is in the Romanesque style popular in northern Spain during the twelfth century. The life-size figures, extending the entire height of the fresco, are marked by curvilinear patterning, schematic drapery folds, and repeated figures creating abstract designs. Jesus, riding an ass and her foal, raises his hands to bless the multitudes come to greet his arrival. These multitudes have been condensed to two kneeling figures spreading branches before him.

Historical information

San Baudelio was constructed in the eleventh century, but the frescoes were not added for another century. There are two distinct cycles: the upper walls were covered in colorful scenes from Christ's life, while the lower walls depicted hunt scenes and exotic animals indicative of the

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

influence in the region. While the two sets of images have very different subjects, there are many indications that they were created simultaneously, by artists from the same atelier if not the very same artist. The frescoes have a similar quality of line, and the draftsmanship of various human and animal figures seems related. They were also created using the same techniques: initial sketches in buon fresco and

fresco-secco Fresco-secco (or a secco or fresco finto) is a wall painting technique where pigments mixed with an organic binder and/or lime are applied onto a dry plaster. The paints used can e.g. be casein paint, tempera, oil paint, silicate mineral paint. I ...

, details added in tempera, polished with

limewater Limewater is the common name for a saturated aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide. Calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, is sparsely soluble at room temperature in water (1.5 g/L at 25 °C). "Pure" (i.e. less than or fully saturated) limewater i ...

. Although seemingly at odds, the two sets of frescoes, religious and secular, worked together quite well considering the time and place of their creation. The unstable border between Christian and Muslim regions saw much interpenetration of ideas and people. The

Mozarab The Mozarabs ( es, mozárabes ; pt, moçárabes ; ca, mossàrabs ; from ar, مستعرب, musta‘rab, lit=Arabized) is a modern historical term for the Iberian Christians, including Christianized Iberian Jews, who lived under Muslim rule in A ...

ic people in the region, who practiced Christianity with the trappings of Arab culture, would have been ideally served by San Baudelio's mixture of cultures and iconographies.

Location history

The remoteness of Berlanga de Duero and inaccessibility of its church helped the frescoes survive for centuries, protecting them from everything but the weather. In 1927, the villagers of Berlanga sold the frescoes that had not been destroyed to an art dealer named Leon Levi. They were then dispersed to museums around the world, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Prado Museum.

Acquisition

The IMA acquired ''Entry of Christ into Jerusalem'' in 1957 as a gift of G. H. A. Clowes and Elijah B. Martindale. It was given the accession number 57.151 and hangs in the Irving M. Fauvre Gallery by its sister fresco, ''Marriage at Cana''.

References

External links